The present invention relates to a trajectory acquisition and monitoring system which is to be responsive to the trajectory of mobile objects for purposes of acquiring data being indicative of the trajectory and being further amenable to evaluation of such data.
For purposes of evaluating trajectories along which objects move it is necessary to first acquire data on these trajectories by means of measurements carried out within a suitable coordinate system and being related to the position of such object, the progressive change of such position and, more generally, to track the measuring process. It is generally known to use radar for such trajectory acquisition process but is also known that the acquisition of trajectory data by means of radar is not completely satisfactory. The objects to be tracked may be flying objects, such as airplanes, rockets, missles or the like, or they may float on or in water, or they may move across the land. In order to track these objects and to acquire their trajectory for purposes of progress evaluation it is necessary, usually, to acquire measuring data by means of different, i.e. differently located stations. This is basically the method of a triangulation. It is apparent, however, that trajectory acquisition on that basis requires synchronic control of the several tracking stations so that these have to be linked in an unambiguous fashion.
In addition to radar equipment, trajectory acquisition systems are known for operating basically on an optical basis such as video system or laser systems. The known systems along this line, however, have not yielded satisfactory results, particularly because tracking fast-moving objects such as aircraft or approaching missiles is quite difficult.